Laney AH40 Audiohub

[barondvh]

Hi,

I am looking at purchasing a Laney AH40 Audiohub and wanted to know if it’s any good?

I have a electronic drum kit, keyboard and a guitar on the way.

Would I be better off keeping that for the drums and keyboard and getting a better amp to use for the Epiphone Les Paul 50s and if so what recommendations do you have? Price range would be £300ish.

Cheers
Darren

[Deleted]

A Les Paul directly in is likely to not sound great as the Laney is a full frequency setup designed to reproduce the sound of drums and keyboards faithfully rather than to colour them flatteringly as a guitar amp will. If you've ever played an electric guitar into a stereo system you'll know what to expect. It CAN work but sounds VERY recognisable as a DIed guitar. Not so bad for basses or acoustic guitars.

You'll also presumably want some effects on your guitar too? Any overdrives or distortions will sound very grating. Cleaner modulations might sound impressive.

For flexibility though you COULD think about using a pedal into the Laney that EMULATES an amp and speaker cabinet. There are more and more of these around now and I have certainly gigged with one direct to the PA with NO personal amp at all. You can't get that squashy tube response though, but with suitable pedals you can get a long way there.

I use this cheapy thing (£25.00 when I bought it!) as a DI pedal. There are more expensive and probably much better amp emulators though.

[Deleted]

Here the same guy, Shane, compares the American Sound pedal with a real Fender amp to show how close it manages to get in a blind test. See which you prefer - if you have a preference at all. You may just like both but differently, it doesn't have to be a binary thing. You may even HATE both equally! 



And here's the result of that blind test.